Bebe

Bebe stepped out of her low-rise on to the wooded decking. She’d heard some locals discussing the ozone layer (or lack thereof) above South Africa and why one must not sit in the sun. Just the other day a woman she’d met in the coffee queue shared that she’d developed a cancerous mole on her scalp. Bebe had peered at the patch of head the woman had referred to, but found herself focused instead on the woman’s grey roots. This made Bebe feel wretched and she chastised herself for her own judgemental thoughts. But then, she reasoned, the woman did not know what she was thinking. Bebe was expert at hiding what she really thought. And she disregarded the warnings about the African sun. It was glorious. She adored the feel of it, the darkening of her skin, the tan lines on her hips as she showered at night. She counselled herself that Vitamin D in Menopause was said to provide relief from symptoms. How curious that humans sought relief from every symptom, she thought. None could simply be endured. That sounded like something her mother might have said. Bebe thought of her mother - who had never referred to her own menopause, even when Bebe had enquired - she’d asserted that she had sailed right through it; what was all the fuss about? To Bebe, who was looking for a way to find a positive in her own negative landscape of inner thoughts, Menopause might be a release from her old self. The opportunity for a new incarnation. Earlier that summer, Bebe had booked this two month stay in an Airbnb in Cape Town and here she was. She favoured wearing Birkenstocks and kaftans on a daily basis. She wafted down the decking steps to the flat, bone-coloured beach below and called for Arnold, but he was intent on sniffing the piss of another dog a few paces back, his snout buried in the scrub. What was it with Jack Russells? Always so beaky. Arnold had effectively come with the property rental, but Bebe felt this had not been made sufficiently clear when she booked. The rental owner lived in the same building so Arnold was put forward as an optional extra; a small dog for loan. She went with it.